Sunday, April 6, 2014

Forty Two

Not long ago they started showing the movie 42 on HBO.  I didn't get to the movie theater to see the movie but had wanted to check it out, so when we came across it on HBO my husband and I started watching it.  As it turns out we really enjoy this movie.  So much so that if it is on we watch it.  In fact, it is on even as I type this. 

One evening when my husband and I were watching this movie it occurred to me that he was 42.  So I looked at him and I said, "Hey you're forty two, what is that like?"  He looked at me as you might think, like I was crazy and said, "Yeah its fine" and continued to watch the movie.  That is when it hit me...if he is 42 that means that I'm 41!  Wait a minute… when did that happen? 

This year I will turn forty two.  But will I really?  I started thinking about age.  Have you noticed that once you hit a certain age the actual number doesn't come into play unless it is divisible by ten?  You are an age range.  Technically I'm in my early 40's now, not almost 42.  Eventually everything is a range, early, mid, late, early to mid, mid to late.  But we hold on to that mid to late with everything until we absolutely HAVE to accept that next big number that ends with a zero, then we have a party that we made it. 

Aside from my contemplations of weird age anomalies, I also have other things about the movie 42 that I love.  I love that Jackie says, "You want a player who doesn't have the guts to fight back?"  and Mr. Rickey responds with, "No. I want a player who has the guts NOT to fight back."  Amazing isn't it?  The guts to NOT fight back! 

I am reminded of the Bible.  In Matthew 5:39 it says, "But I say this, don't fight against the one who is working evil against you.  If someone strikes you on the right cheek, you are to turn and offer him your left cheek."  What strength and conviction of faith it takes to not fight back!  Our instincts are to fight back and stand up for ourselves.  And yet...Jesus says no and taking it one step farther and saying in verse 44 of that same chapter in Matthew "But I tell you this: love your enemies.  Pray for those who torment you and persecute you-" and in 45 "in so doing, you become children of your Father in heaven.  He, after all, loves each of us-good and evil, kind and cruel.  He causes the sun to rise and shine on the evil and good alike.  He causes the rain to water the fields of the righteous and the fields of the sinner."

Yes, I think it takes a great deal more guts to not fight back.  Maybe you didn't watch this movie and take away from it all that I did, for me it was a good reminder of what we should do and yet sometimes fail to do.  In a world full of movies with little to no moral compass, it was nice to watch a movie based on a man who had courage and faith to see it through.  Perhaps it was nice to also be reminded of my age.  I have a lot of work to do as this year I will be 42.